A Night at the Festival
by Maru Maru
Summary: {oneshot} It's the new moon, so Kagome convinces Inuyasha to go to her time for a night of fun at an annual festival.


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, nor do I own Soul Calibur II.

"..." - speech

'…' - thoughts

-- - change in time or scenery

--

A Night at the Festival

--

Inuyasha was a _lot_ surlier than usual that day.

Everybody had steered clear of the grumpy hanyou, not knowing the reason for his rudeness until night fell.

There was no moon.

Inuyasha could feel as his demonic powers slowly faded away with the rays of the sun. His heightened senses disappeared, and he was once again reminded how life would have been as a human.

That is, if he had accepted Kikyou's proposition.

But he didn't have to turn human anymore. Hell, he was now perfectly happy as a hanyou.

In fact, He had an entire group of friends who accepted him as he was, _and_ he had a mate who loved him. She made him ramen everyday, and rubbed his ears _just the way he liked it_. Not to mention his old love had passed on, and that that bastard, Naraku was dead.

Life was fairly good.

Well- except for that 'turning human' thing.

The irritated hanyou stayed at the base of the Goshinboku tree, immersed in his own grumpiness. His arms were crossed, his legs were crossed, and hell, even his expression was cross. A muscle in Inuyasha's arm fidgeted from the constant tenseness and inactivity.

Gods be damned, it was way too boring around here!

What he needed was for some demon to come stumbling around so he could beat the hell out of it.

Heck, it didn't even need to be a full-grown demon… Shippou would suffice nicely…

An evil grin tipped the edge of his mouth.

A sudden crunching brought his attention back to the real world and Inuyasha whipped his head to the direction of the noise. A sudden spurt of adrenaline rushed through his body as his human senses sharpened considerably. His grip tightened on Tetsusaiga, ready to use it to defend himself if neccessary.

Through the tree came a figure. He tensed further, and half drew his father's fang.

"Ne, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha relaxed as an almost disappointed feeling spread through him. It was only Kagome; not some blood-crazed demon wanting to tear into the village's population. He sheathed the sword and leaned back into the tree trunk. His fright and frustration was, once again, replaced by rudeness.

"What is it, bitch?"

She smiled lightly, disregarding the insult, and walked up to the hanyou, sitting down beside him. The girl gently lay her head on his shoulder. Inuyasha drew in a breath as she nuzzled his cheek, her hands playing with his. He slowly drew an arm around her waist, somehow knowing that she wanted something.

"What do you want?"

After all, Kagome was never _this_ directly affectionate unless something was up.

"Well, tonight is the new moon, and I was thinking…"

Ah. Just as expected.

The girl drifted off, and Inuyasha turned his head slightly. "Yeah…?"

"Well, you don't like my time, but now that you're human, would you like to spend the night there?" She rushed forwards before he could object. "It's only for one night, and there's this festival that's going to start in a few hours. Now that your senses aren't as sensitive, the noises won't hurt your ears, and the smell won't affect you as much." Wide, innocent eyes peered up at him.

He stared flatly back. "No."

"It'll be fun!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Inu-"

"No!"

She took her head off his shoulder and turned to look at him fully.

He cursed silently.

Damn.

No.

Not again…

Not that face… those… eyes… 'S_he's so cute…' _

He couldn't resist. Not when she used that damned _face_ on him.

"…Fine. But only for tonight."

Kagome squealed in delight and hugged her love. Not able to resist further antagonizing his embarrassment, she quickly dropped a kiss onto a reddened cheek. Standing up, the young woman brushed herself off and looked expectantly at Inuyasha.

He stared back. "…What?"

Rolling her azure eyes, the girl held out her hand. "Come on! The festival's starting in a few hours! You may be dressed, but I still have to change!" She tugged at the hem of the top of her pink sweater. "Let's go, already!"

The boy frowned. "…What's wrong with what you're wearing now?"

Ever since she had agreed to staying in the past with Inuyasha, Kagome had stopped wearing her 'school uniform' and dressed in a variety of clothes. She was currently wearing a soft pink top paired with a pair of 'jeans'.

Kagome sighed.

"It's a festival, Inuyasha. That means I get to dress up in a kimono!"

The boy's eyes suddenly lit up.

He had only seen Kagome in a kimono once, and that was for some formal thing in her modern time. She had looked absolutely beautiful, but insisted that they were just too much trouble to put on, and way too uncomfortable to wear everyday. She would occasionally don a yukata, but still preferred the strange clothes from her time that were, on more than most occasions, too revealing.

Not that he minded or anything…

It was when other males noticed that he had wanted to rip their fucking throats out…

Taking the girl's outstretched hand, Inuyasha pulled himself up, brushing the dirt off his pants. He noticed her shiver, and snorted before dropping his haori over her shoulders.

"I told you to wear more." He shook his head at her. "It gets cold on the evenings."

Kagome rolled her eyes, but pulled the red jacket tighter around her all the same. "Let's go." And with that, she turned and headed towards the bone-eater's well, tugging the lagging boy behind her.

--

Inuyasha hated waiting.

And right now, he was waiting for his mate to finish dressing.

When they had entered through the door, the old man had plastered a few useless spells on him despite his cries that he was human that night. The kid, Souta, who idolised him to the point of obsession, had taught him to play some new games he had recently bought for his PS2. Higurashi-san had clucked her tongue sadly at the lack of doggy-ears, and had taken his clothes to wash.

That left him dressed in a pair of the jiji's old 'pyjamas', in the living room, waiting for his mate to finish dressing, while having his ass kicked by Souta in Soul Calibur II.

"Damn it! Jump! Jump! No! Don't fall off the ledge! Aww shit. Stupid Cassandra…"

Souta sighed as his hero's character fell of the edge of the playing field yet again. He'd beaten him for the umpteenth time, and as much fun as it was trouncing Inuyasha, this was just getting boring. Maybe he was an awesome fighter in real life, but Inuyasha just plain well _sucked_ at video games.

His mother returned with the now clean clothes and handed them to his sister's boyfriend.

"About damn time…"

Souta waited for Inuyasha to finish dressing before resuming the game. In several more rounds, Inuyasha finally beat Souta. The boy rolled his eyes as his idol cheered like a child, but frowned when the cheering was suddenly cut off. He turned his attention to the nineteen-year-old boy beside him.

"Hey, Inu-no-nii-chan, what's wrong?"

Inuyasha's mouth was slightly open, and he was clearly not paying the slightest bit of attention to Souta. The youth turned to see what was so interesting, and snorted.

"So, you're finally ready, eh nee-chan?"

Kagome stood in the doorway of the living room, wearing a red kimono to match her mate. It was adorned with small baby pink sakura petals. The pink obi was tied in an intricate knot that looked (and probably was) extremely complicated. On her feet were the traditional wooden sandals and toed socks. Kagome had chosen not to use make-up, considering Inuyasha's distaste for 'mucking up one's face like that'. Her ocean blue eyes sparkled with amusement at the look on Inuyasha's face.

"Like what you see, puppy?"

A frown crossed his face, but Inuyasha stood up and walked over to the young woman, giving her a kiss. Souta's face twisted in disgust at the show of affection. "Jeez. Get a room." He then proceeded to stalk into the kitchen, presumably to steal some of the freshly baked cookies his mother had just taken out of the oven.

"You're always beautiful." The half-demon nuzzled her in a way that he most certainly wouldn't have been caught in the past.

Blushing, Kagome pecked Inuyasha on the cheek and turned to lead him out the door. "And you can be so cute, Inuyasha. Now let's go. The festival's going to start soon!"

He scowled at her, not wanting to go anywhere. "Can't we just stay here?"

"Oh, come on!" She turned her head back, exasperated. "I promise you'll like it, now come, boy!"

--

Kagome lead Inuyasha through the busy streets of Tokyo, finally coming to a stop next to an area that was lighted up. Many people of all ages were walking around in a bustle that seemed never to stop moving. Laughter was heard above the babble of the crowd, and there were occasional screams that echoed through the night air.

The girl looked at her mate and laughed at the expression on his face.

Lavender eyes wide open, the boy was turning his head in an attempt to see everything all at once. His mouth was slightly open, and if he had had his doggy ears, they most certainly would have been twitching and turning to capture all the different sounds.

He turned to Kagome. "There are so many people… Where are we? Are you sure we won't get lost?"

She smiled at him. "This is the park I used to go to with Father. It's called Kokoro Park, and every year, they hold a festival. They have games that you can earn prizes from, food stands," she ticked them off her fingers, "and lots of other stuff- there's even a fireworks show at midnight!" She grinned in excitement. "Some of the feature events here are from the Americas, and they're really interesting." Kagome paused, taking in a deep breath. "This festival's really popular." She waved her hand in the general direction of the festival and asked Inuyasha, "So where do you want to go first?"

Still slightly overwhelmed, he shook his head. "I don't know. I'll follow you."

Grinning even wider, the girl tugged on his arm and led him into the throng, towards a small stall. There appeared to be a small rectangular pond with several small, brightly coloured goldfish swimming around in the water. One of the two supervisors of the game saw the pair approach and beamed at them.

"Would you like to try? Three paddles for 500 yen. You can keep as many fish as you catch before your paddle breaks. Once all your paddles have ripped, the game's over." Her smile was a little over-bright, and her expression a little over-enthusiastic, so Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

Kagome, however, seemed not to be perturbed, and nodded excitedly, handing over the bill. She spoke to Inuyasha as the perky girl retrieved three paddles. "Every year, Otou-san and I used to play this game. He was really good, but I never did get the hang of it."

Bending down, the girl stood poised with a delicate paddle in her right hand just above the water's surface. In her left hand was a plastic bag with a short drawstring. She stood very still and waited. When a fish swam near her at last, she quickly flipped the paddle- but there was nothing in it. After several tries, the thin paper finally broke, and Kagome pouted slightly before laughing and grabbing another one.

"I never was good at this, but it's fun, no?"

Inuyasha watched as the girl tried again, but the fish always swam away before they could be caught. Once the second paddle also broke, he bent down and retrieved the third.

"Keh. Stupid girl. Let me do it."

Kagome raised an eyebrow silently, but allowed room for the boy as she scooted over.

Inuyasha was bent just as she had been, and his brows were furrowed in concentration. The tip of his tongue poked out the corner of his mouth as he slowly lowered the paddle to dip slightly in the water. With a sudden flick of his wrist, he held up the bag triumphantly, and Kagome saw a single goldfish contained in it.

Lowering to the water's surface once more, the boy kept on scooping up fish after fish, capturing at least a dozen before the paddle finally broke. Standing up cockily, he smirked at the girl.

"See? That wasn't too hard, now was it?"

Kagome slapped his arm playfully and grinned at him. "I guess you're just a natural." She playfully stuck her tongue out at him…

…and found a bag of fish thrusted into her face.

"Here."

Kagome cocked her head to the side. "What?"

The boy looked away, a faint blush staining his face. "I won't need these fish, and you seem to like them well enough. They're yours."

The girl squealed and jumped up, hugging Inuyasha and giving him a big kiss on the cheek. When she released him, there was a definite red blush on his cheeks. "Thank you, Inuyasha!"

"…Keh." He turned away slightly, and mumbled, "they're just fish."

Beaming widely, Kagome once again took possession of her koi's hand, this time with a plastic bag full of fish swinging from her wrist.

"Let's get something to eat then, Inuyasha? We haven't eaten since we left home, and it's been several hours. "She tugged at his hand, but there was no response. She looked back to see him with a small grin on his face. "Inuyasha?"

"You said 'home'. Do you consider my world as… your home?"

Kagome frowned slightly. "Well, yes, in fact, I do." A loving smile lit her face. "I told you the night I became your mate that my home was where you were, don't you remember?"

The small grin blew up into a large one.

"Well, then let's go. Didn't I hear something about food?"

--

Inuyasha tapped his foot impatiently on the foot of his chair. His head was propped on the hard wood of a table in front of him, and his eyes were closed.

He was waiting again.

And had he ever mentioned that he _hated_ waiting?

There was a clunk as something heavy was set in front of him, and the most delicious aroma met the boy's nose. Opening his lavender eyes, he raised his head and beheld a large bowl full of yummy, delicious, mouth watering ramen.

Kagome watched as the boredom shot out of his face and was immediately replaced by a wide grin as he inhaled the scent of the ramen. Giving him a pair of wooden chopsticks, she watched in amusement as he immediately broke them apart and started to devour the noodles.

"Hungry?"

Grunt.

Shaking her head, the nineteen-year-old sighed and started on her own smaller bowl of noodles.

After just a few minutes, the food had disappeared, and Inuyasha was left extremely satisfied, not to mention energised. It was really quite amazing how quickly he had inhaled his ramen.

He jumped up and grabbed Kaogme's hand. "Let's go do something else, wench."

Kagome raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. "Well, the fireworks don't start until twelve o-clock, which is still an hour away… So let's go play some more games?"

He frowned at her. "What else is there to play?"

"Well…"

--

Fifty minutes later, an extremely happy Kagome hugged Inuyasha, who had a rather arrogant expression on his face. He was carrying a large white stuffed dog that was easily half his height and double his width. The dog had floppy ears and huge black eyes. The boy was also carrying a wide assortment of other stuffed animals.

The pair had played many games, most of which were from the Americas.

Inuyasha had won the large dog at a game where one had to throw balls at the targets to knock them all down. After a few failures, he had gotten the hang of the game, and soon hit so many that his many small wins were combined to earn him a large prize.

He had selected the dog at Kagome's insistence.

At one particular game, where one had to hit all the targets with plastic arrows, Kagome had excelled when it had been her turn. She'd hit all the targets, dead centre, earning her many appreciative whistles from spectators. At that point, Inuyasha had glared menacingly at the other men around the stall.

Well… as menacing as one could get with his arms full of stuffed animals…

For the full fifty minutes, the couple had visited game stall after stall, winning prize after prize. By the time they'd left, the venders seemed both disappointed at the loss of good customers, and happy that the chain winners had left.

Kagome stayed in Inuyasha's comforting embrace and sighed happily. The warm fire-rat fur was way softer than it should have been after so many years of deflecting sharp edged swords and poisonous spikes.

Through their travels, there had been so many obstacles, yet their group had overcome them all. In the end, they had defeated Naraku. Sango and Miroku had married, and she was already three months pregnant with their first child. She and Inuyasha had come to terms with their feelings, and had become mates only two months before. She had wondered why she wasn't pregnant, but he had said that she hadn't been fertile at the time.

Whatever that meant.

Closing her eyes, Kagome sunk blissfully into the warmth.

"Oi, Kagome."

"Hnnnmm?"

"When were those firework thingies again?"

Eyes snapping open the girl looked at her watched, and quickly scrambled out of Inuyasha's arms.

The boy pouted.

"We have five minutes to get the hill, come on, Inuyasha! Hustle! Hustle!"

She pulled her mate through the crowd towards a grass-covered hill at the edge of the festivities. There were already several people sitting upon the turf. Some were couples, some were alone, and others had brought their families.

Kagome chose a secluded spot and settled down. Inuyasha carefully laid all of their prizes in one spot before sitting beside Kagome, draping an arm lazily around her shoulder. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before he became impatient, as he always did.

"Now, what are these firework things?"

His question was abruptly answered as there was a sudden whizzing, and an explosion was heard in the sky. Several red coloured sparks erupted in a blossom, and fluttered slowly to the ground.

Inuyasha shot up immediately.

"Demons! Here? They must be attacking the people! We have to… destroy… them…"

He drifted off when the sound of Kagome's laughter reached his ears. Glancing down, the teenager saw that she had doubled over, and was laughing so hard that she had trouble breathing. He stared at her flatly.

"Inu- Inuyasha…"

"…"

Regaining her composure, Kagome patted the ground he had vacated. "Si- er… get back down here. Those aren't demons. They're just fireworks."

"What the hell are fireworks?"

She searched for an answer that the boy from the feudal ages would understand. "Well, they're… they're... You see, when certain… erm… Never mind! Just watch the show with me, won't you, Inuyasha? Just be with me?"

He sighed. "Yeah…"

He sat down and placed an arm around her waist, smiling slightly as she sighed and leaned against him. The boy-turned-man rested his chin on her head as more of the 'fireworks' exploded above their heads in different coloured lights.

Yes, he would always be with her.

There was nothing stopping that from happening.

Not anymore.

* * *

Translations:

Yukata - lighter, summer kimono

Hanyou - half-demon

* * *

--I've read over and revamped this story, updating the style to better match my current one. I've taken away the ever-annoying 'parts', and have replaced most of the superfluous Japanese with English, because frankly, I find it a little annoying and… 'fangirl'-ish when used excessively. -.-;;

Till next time…

Ja!--


End file.
